Customs and Border Protection

(Newser) - The federal government has begun tracking the border crossings of US citizens and building a huge database with the information, the Washington Post reports. The data collection, made possible by machine-readable documents, has alarmed privacy groups. The government plans to keep the information for 15 years and share it with...

(Newser) - US border agents can seize laptop computers or other electronc devices from any traveler entering the country and keep them indefinitely, even without suspicion of wrongdoing, the Washington Post reports. A policy update released by Homeland Security, dated July 16, says agents can keep any information-storing device they please and...

(Newser) - Visitors to the US entering through New York's John F. Kennedy airport will have all 10 fingers scanned under a new program of the Department of Homeland Security, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Officials hope the program, called US-VISIT, will allow customs—which currently collects just two prints from non-citizen...